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W h e r e i s KV65? by MICHAEL J MARFLEET

KV65 was a number assigned to an unexcavated 'cavity' detected by ground-penetrating radar near KV64 in the . In 2019 it was announced KV65 had been discovered in the West Valley. Where is KV65?

The West Valley

Where is KV65? August 9th, 2021

In en.wikipedia.org KV65 is still described as 'an unexcavated tomb in the Valley of the Kings, but in 2019 Dr announced the discovery of KV65 in the West Valley, about 300m northeast of KV23, (Fig. 1). The announcement is included in a video by 'Archaeological Paths Travel Company' on Youtube dated September, 2020.

Fig. 1

KV65 is described as a pit/shaft 'tomb' or embalming cache, suggesting a royal tomb may lie nearby. Hawass suggests this hitherto undiscovered tomb may contain a member or members of the family of Amenhotep III, KV22. Earlier this century the number, KV65, had previously been assigned to an unexcavated 'cavity' detected by ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The anomaly was said to be located close by KV64 in the extreme southern portion of the Valley of the Kings running towards KV34, (Fig. 1 & Essay II). Re-assignment of KV numbers is not without precedent. Before the dis- covery of KV64 in 2011, the number 'KV64' had previously been assigned to a GPR anomaly located by the Amarna Royal Tombs Project led by Dr Nicholas Reeves. The location is said to lie close to the , KV62. Since that anomaly remained unexcavated in 2011, the number, KV64, became re- assigned to the newly discovered pit/shaft 'tomb' of XVIIIth Dynasty date, about 100m from the entryway to KV34. The location of KV65 can be seen on a Google Earth satellite image of the southern West Valley published in: www.pharaon-magazine.fr . My photograph taken not far from to the southern extremity of West Valley a decade or so earlier (Fig. 2), coincidentally appears to have been taken at that very location, (looking south).

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Presumably both GPR anomalies will remain un-numbered until their existence has been confirmed!

------* Incidentally, KV64 was found to hold the mummy of a XXIInd Dynasty burial - that of a priestess.

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